Professor Frank Aarebrot recommends those of us who plan to not vote this election to roll a dice between the parties they like the most (or hate the least).

We asked Frank Aarebrot, professor of comparative politics in UiB of "Why should immigrants vote?". Watch the exclusive video interview only on valg.morsmal.org with subtitles in your language.

Professor Frank Aarebrot is a professor of comparative politics at the University of Bergen and adjunct professor of democracy development at the Orebro University. We asked Aarebrot for good reasons to vote on the upcoming general election in Norway Monday, 9th September.

Watch the video and read the entire transcript from the video interview below (please click the CC button to choose subtitles in your language).

(You can choose between approximately 70 different languages by clicking the CC button above, if you want or can help with a better or another translation (to other languages) please download the transcript here and send your version to valg2013@morsmal.eu)

Video transcript - Professor Frank Aarebrot on "Why immigrants should vote?"In the general election it is only natural that foreigners or in other words, foreigners who have become Norwegian citizens, can vote. And if you are a naturalized foreigner in Norway, of course you receive the same benefits and have the problems as any natural born Norwegian would have. So for the same reason any natural-born Norwegian should vote, a naturalized citizen should vote.

The (political) parties are in fact promising people more benefits or threatening other benefits, and of course if you are a naturalized taxi driver, you have the same interests as natural-born taxi driver. So there is no difference in the reasons for voting. And of course naturalized citizens should vote. It is rather silly not to!

It depends on what political system they (immigrants) come from. If you are an Englishman or an American, or comes from a country with a single member constituency, and normally voting for your local member of parliament or your local congressman, then of course you should realize that abstaining from voting, not voting, in our system of proportional representation means that you are voting anyway.

Because in a proportional representation system like you have in Norway or in Poland or in Israel, you cannot not take part in the political process. Because even if you cannot decide on the (political) party you like the best, you (would) very often have an idea of a party that you do want to get into power.

And by abstaining you give a part of a vote to the party you hate the most. So the only way to avoid the party you hate the most from getting power is to go in to the polling booth and roll a dice among the parties you think or feel are equally good. That way you would deprive the vote from (that) party from the share of all the other votes.

So in other words, in the (proportional system), you cannot avoid influencing politics even if you stay at home. So the only way to influence politics in your direction is to at least vote negatively by voting against the (political) party you hate the most.

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